


An Origin Story

by Flowers47



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, F/M, Origin Story, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-15
Updated: 2014-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-08 22:14:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1958073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowers47/pseuds/Flowers47
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When we meet FitzSimmons, they are already an incredible, inseparable duo. But they didn't start out that way. When Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz meet each other for the first time in a chemical engineering class at the S.H.I.E.L.D Sci-Tech Academy, things are...eh. But time and circumstance will bring them together to become the pair that we know and love, but until then- their story starts here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to be honest- I'm not certain where I'm going with this and I don't know how long it will be. I have the first few chapters written out and will be posting every couple of days. If there's something you'd like to see or you have suggestions, please leave a comment and I'll take it into consideration! :)  
> This first chapter is un-betaed, but I would love a beta for the rest! Message me if you're interested in being my beta-buddy. 
> 
> Warnings: This chapter contains a very brief scene in which sexual assault is attempted.

The first time he sees her, she’s giving a presentation on the benefits of combining a lithium battery base with a solution of 2% chlorine to burn your way out of handcuffs.  
It’s not the kind of love-at-first-sight cliché that is so frequently used on the rom-coms that his sisters used to make him watch. He is not immediately swept away by how beautiful she is, nor does a heavenly chorus start up when she looks out into the audience and casually meets his eyes.  
If that first, unexpected eye contact makes his heart jump into his throat a little, well. That’s nobody’s business but his.   
The first emotions that he does feel about her are, primarily, awe, because that’s actually a really clever idea, and then mild annoyance, because he wished he had thought of it first. As he leaves the lecture hall, he doesn’t make a vow to search until he learns more about her like he would if he were the tragic hero in so many movies. He doesn’t even think about asking after her name, because he’d seen it printed neatly, over and over again, on the bottom left-hand corner of every slide in her tidy PowerPoint presentation.   
“Simmons” it says, “Simmons. Simmons.”  
He doesn’t think about her for a week.

 

The first time she sees him is equally unremarkable. He’s bent over a pool table and, from the looks of it, losing miserably.   
“That’s Leo,” her roommate whispers into Simmons’ ear. Jemma didn’t particularly like her, but it was proving hard to make friends in the competitive atmosphere of Sci-Tech, and the roommate was the only one so far who both understood that she would never be as smart as Simmons and didn’t hate her for it. Simmons appreciates that, even though it’s a little annoying that she had been dragged away from her research and out to The Boiler Room tonight just so that the roommate could whisper incomprehensible things to her.  
“Who’s Leo?”  
“The cutie you’re ogling, duh!” she winks and nudges Simmons in the side, “Don’t pretend that you weren’t just checking him out!”  
“I wasn’t!” protests Simmons dumbfoundedly, because she hadn’t been.   
“Yeah, okay, whatever you say, Hot Stuff,” the other girl winks again, more outrageously this time, “They say he’s the smartest one here. Besides you, of course. He’s a shoo-in for the Sandbox. You should totally, like, talk to him. You guys could be nerdy together, if you know what I mean.” Another wink. Simmons hums noncommittally and then makes her escape to the library. She has a test tomorrow, after all.

 

Fitz discovers that she’s also in his neurobiology class, and so, when the professor announces that their next assignment is group-mandatory, he asks to be paired with her. She’s clearly the only one there who is capable of keeping up with him, so it makes sense on an academic level. His professor hems and haws, but comes back to Fitz the next day and says that although he prefers pairings to be random, he’ll make an exception this time.   
Fitz will later discover that Simmons made the same request.  
They work together well enough- they are civil and distant, working on the project and nothing else. She finds him dull, he dislikes the way that she clicks her pen when she’s thinking, but at least they each have a partner who’s willing to pull their weight. The project is deemed a success, some of the best work the Academy has ever seen, but each privately thinks that they could have done better on their own. 

 

Weeks pass. She eats lunch outside on the lawn, he passes by with an awkward little wave. He sets fire to the chemistry lab, she glares at him murderously from underneath her hair, soaking wet from the fire sprinklers.   
Neither of them makes many friends.  
Fitz has just resolved to himself that this will be his life from now on, always isolated, always too far ahead to be able to relate to his peers, when it happens. He’s walking through the library late at night, deep in the basement stacks searching for a specific book that he wants to reference, when he hears voices.

“Whatever insult you think I have made against you, I can assure you, you are mistaken,” comes a crisp, upper-class English accent, “I meant no offense. I barely even recognize you, I can promise you that a slight was not deliberate-“ her voice is firm, eager to please, eager to be polite, but nothing more.   
“Oh, yeah, like you haven’t been looking at this.” The answering voice is rough and harsh, the latent anger in the man’s voice sending goose bumps up Fitz’s spine, “Like you haven’t been watching me, wishing you could have a piece. I bet you dream about me, sweetheart, and today is your lucky day.”  
Simmons’ voice has an element of fear to it now- she’s starting to panic, “What? No, I-“  
“Do yourself a favor and shut the hell up,” the unseen man interrupts. There’s a loud thump and then silence, and Fitz is running, running as fast as he can towards the voices and thanking the gods that he’d already taken Basic Combat 210. He rounds the corner and there they are; Simmons crouched in a low fighting stance, fists in front of her face to block the blows that are raining down from the hulking third-year that Fitz thinks he might recognize. She’s holding her own, throwing a punch in here, connecting with a chiseled cheekbone there, swinging a leg out to knock Big Guy off his feet. But she’s no field agent, and the man must have a hundred pounds on her, and he hits her sharply on the back of the knee and she’s down too, and he’s rolling to lie on top of her, and she’s so small that Fitz can’t even see her anymore and his vision goes red and then things become very, very clear. He’s jumping on the big guy’s back before he’s quite told his body to do so, and the other man is so shocked that he pulls away from Simmons and starts turning around, trying to find the leprechaun on his back. Fitz slides off and around and, in the coolest combat move he will likely ever make, kicks the guy square in the chest. There’s no way that his weak muscles can do anything in a hand-to-hand fight against the third year, but the bastard was caught off guard and addled with lust, so his stance is off balance just enough that Fitz’s kick sends him flying backwards.

Fitz grabs hold of Simmons’ arm where she’s pulled herself up against the bookshelves and pulls her along beside him. They run and run and run until they’ve reaches Fitz’s dorm and she clings to him as he fumbles with the keys, and then they’re inside. They’re safe, and the horrible thing that Fitz knew would have happened did not happen, and there’s no way that asshole could have followed them. They may not be the best fighters but both he and Simmons are light on their feet, and they ran like hell. He collapses, gasping, onto the floor and only then does he realize that the tiny woman beside him is shaking. 

“Simmons, right?” he asks, and she looks up at him from where she’s huddled in a ball on the floor next to him, “Simmons, we have to get you to Health Services. You’re going into shock, and who knows how many ribs you’ve bruised. We need to tell someone what happened.”  
She’s gasping these huge gulps of air and, god, she won’t stop shaking as she grabs his forearm again, her eyes blown wide with fear, “No! No, please, please, let me just stay here for a little while. I can’t go out there again, not yet, I can’t-“  
“It’s okay. It’s alright, we’ll go in the morning,” He tries to reassure her, curling his free hand around the back of her head gently. He tugs her in and she lets him, squishing herself up against his side and resting her face against his neck, “You can stay for as long as you need, Simmons.”  
“Jemma.”  
“What?” He doesn’t understand.  
“It’s Jemma. My name. Please call me Jemma.”  
“Okay. Okay, I will, Jemma.” She breaks then, and sobs these horrible quiet little tears into the collar of his shirt for what seems like half the night.   
He holds her, and lets her cry.

 

In the morning she calls her roommate to let her know that she’s okay. The roommate is shocked, horrified! and Jemma is suddenly very glad that it was Fitz who found her, so that she didn’t have to deal with this hysteria. The roommate agrees to go with her to Campus Police to report the incident, and they hang up after agreeing to meet back at her dorm. Fitz sits beside her on his bed silently staring at his clasped hands. There is an uncomfortable pause.  
Simmons looks around at the walls of his single room and realizes that they’re covered with schematics. Blueprints, calculations- he’s even got a set of glassware on a desk in the corner. For the first time since this all began, the nausea in her stomach lessens slightly, and she feels a little less like she’s going to be sick. She stands to walk around the room, looking at each of the papers in turn, her mouth slightly open with awe. Fitz comes to stand next to her. He points out a few of the finer details of his ideas, and soon they’re having a rousing debate over which element is the best (She says phosphorus, he’s sticking to hydrogen). Simmons can’t stay for long- she has to meet her roommate- but as she stands on the threshold of his room she says, “May I…may I come back? There was something you said about the atomic threshold of the speed of light that I’d like to talk more about. And I think I might have something to add to that layout for the de-emulsifier?” She smiles up at him shyly.   
“Anytime, Jemma.” He beams back, and Simmons feels that, maybe, she can find a way to get rid of this weight lying on her chest. She touches his hand and says, “Thanks, Fitz,” and feels just a little bit lighter.


	2. Exposition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of a shorty today, I'm afraid. I had less written than I thought :p

They can’t stay away from each other. He learns all her favorite haunts. She drops by his dorm so regularly that the other guys in the hall start wiggling their eyebrows at him and making cracks about “Genius Romeo”. He and Simmons aren’t like that, he doesn't think about her like that (okay, fine, maybe he did once or twice. But never again!) but the leers of the other students make him angry and nervous. He wishes they would stop looking at Simmons like that, like she’s not a person, because she is.  
She’s the most amazing person he’s ever met.  
He asks if he can meet her at the frozen yogurt place on campus instead.

Soon they are unstoppable. His insights correct her inventions; her enthusiasm inspires designs of his own. She’s better at biology, he can make physics make sense. People whisper about them in hallways, their names always said in conjunction with each other until they blend into one incredible unit- FitzSimmons.  
She tells herself that she hates his accent, that it’s annoying, not adorable. He pretends that he wishes she were less of a rule-follower.   
They’re both lying.   
Simmons’ adores his curly hair. She occasionally daydreams about combing her fingers through it; she thinks about the shocked expression that would bloom on his face, how he would stammer and blush, how she could push him back and lean in and become the center of his world. Fitz can’t get enough of her smile. He makes jokes constantly, stupid ones, dumb ones, on the off chance that she’ll laugh. And, though he’ll never, ever, ever admit this to anyone- all she really has to do is smile at him like that, like she’s proud of him, and he’d do anything she asked him to. But neither does, because that’s not the sort of person that they are.   
He knows that she was brilliant before they met. He was too! But, somehow…they’re better when they’re together. It’s better than the first time they worked together, and neither is sure why, but they’re engineers, not psychologists, so they don’t question it. All they know is that finally somebody else can grasp the concepts that they’re discussing. They finish each other’s sentences and can read each other’s minds (well, not really. Simmons knows that that is just impossible!) but more than that, they get each other. Jemma won’t make fun of Leo when he admits that he actually kind of likes all those romantic movies he used to watch with his sisters back home, and Fitz won’t judge Simmons when she gets anxious and freaks out over nothing.   
He testifies for her at the hearing of the Sci-Tech student that attacked her. He’s never had to do anything like that before but it’s easier than he thought. Almost as soon as he begins describing what he saw to the court, he becomes indignant and furious all over again, and he’s certain that the jury understood what he was trying to say. To protect her privacy Simmons isn’t there, but he pictures the way she looked that night and then how he’s seen her in the weeks since, grinning and glowing with her passion for their work. He promises himself that he’ll never let anyone take that child-like enthusiasm away from her.

 

Jemma, for her part, waits nervously outside Fitz’s dorm until he comes back. When he finally arrives, she trembles nervously for a minute and then blurts out, “Would you like to spend part of the holiday with me in Derbyshire?” She comes from a little village in the middle of England and, even though she knows that Glasgow is much further north, her hometown is so small that she knows she be bored out of her mind without him. “I mean, I know you’re going to go see your family for Christmas and all, but I just thought maybe we could meet up towards the end of the holiday and then fly back here together. My mum has been dying to meet you, she won’t shut up about it, and-“ Leo grins at her, humour lighting up his whole face.  
“Jemma. You’re rambling.” She blushes and falls silent. “Of course I wanna spend break with you. What else would I be doing?”   
“Oh. Oh, good,” they’re both smiling stupidly at each other now, she knows it, “Well, that’s settled then.” She pivots neatly on her heel and marches into the residence hall, hoping that her blush will have faded by the time Fitz catches up. They spend the rest of the evening discussing theoretical trans-nuclear wormholes, and Simmons doesn’t think she’s ever been happier.


	3. Adventures in Other People

It feels like they’ve been at the Academy for forever but really, it’s only been a few months. The days pass in a whirl of exams and knowledge and they spend their evenings owning at ping-pong in the Boiler Room. They get spectacularly drunk one night and join a group of Physics majors in a game of “Secret Poker”, in which they are coerced into betting secrets rather than money. Jemma is shite at cards and is forced to confess all manner of things- that she got her family placed on a MI5 watch list at the age of 6 by trying to order uranium ore online, that she used to dream of being a professional pop star, that she didn’t realize that her first kiss was happening until it was already over (she was 16 and still very oblivious to the way people of her age were supposed to interact). Fitz finds all of this uproariously funny, but stops being quite so amused when he starts on a losing streak. None of Jemma’s secrets were particularly dark due to her rule-following nature, but Fitz’s younger years were a little crazy, to say the least. He offers to walk Simmons back to her dorm to avoid talking about what happened to his father, so she bids him goodnight with big sad eyes that tell him that she already knows his darkest secrets and wants to keep him around anyway. He kisses her on the cheek- softly, drunkenly- and says goodnight.   
They each go out on a couple of dates. Fitz doesn’t much like the look of the guys Simmons picks- they’re all fairly fit, a little foxy, and “complete prats” as he bitches to one of his friends from Technical Design. But it’s none of his business who Jemma goes out with, and it doesn’t matter what he thinks, because she can choose a life partner for herself, thank you very much.  
He just doesn’t understand why he isn’t partner enough.   
The engineer even makes nice with one of the guys, a blondie who’s studying Alien Biology. He does it for Simmons’ sake because, even though he doesn’t get a say in who she dates, she’d “still like your opinion every once in a while, Fitz.” Isaac is nice enough; he’s polite and interesting, and Fitz has to admit that he finds the other man’s field of study intriguing. It comes as a surprise to him when the guy flags Fitz down as he’s crossing campus one day.  
“Hey! Hey, Leo!”  
“Oh, hi, Isaac.”  
“Listen, I wanted to ask you…what do you think about double-dating with me and Jem some time? I know this great girl, Lee, she’s the best, and she’d love to meet you. You’re not seeing anybody, right?” Fitz shakes his head in the negative. “Great! Seriously, I think you’d like her. And, well…I know how important you are to Jem. You mean a lot to her and I think if the four of us went out together, that’d make her really happy. Whaddaya say?”  
Fitz can’t think of anything to say besides stammering his agreement. After all, it would be nice to have some romantic company for once. 

The double-date goes surprisingly well. Lee is a pretty second-year who, even though Fitz can never figure out what she’s actually studying, seems pretty interested in cars. They talk about Stark’s historic flying car and what modifications would have to be made to the engine to achieve it, and Fitz is pleased to discover that Lee isn’t half bad at bowling. She’s also very intelligent, and they spend a lot of time talking about famous cars in popular culture. They even have a lovely little fake-argument about whether Impalas or De Loreans are better, with Lee and Simmons defending the Impala and Fitz and Isaac on the side of the time-traveling vehicle. The only annoying thing is that she insists on calling him Leo, despite his saying numerous times that he prefers his surname. But on the whole, he decides that the date was a good idea. He likes being out with Jemma…and Isaac too, of course. It follows logically that Fitz should ask Lee out on a second date, so he does.   
That date is considerably worse.   
Lee is now blatantly ignoring his requests to be called Fitz. She recommends sushi (he can’t stand fish); he suggests they see a movie (she hates “capitalist propaganda”). The scientist spends the whole night wondering what happened to the laughter and easy-going atmosphere of the previous night. He calls Jemma to tell her about it as he drags himself back to his dorm at the end of the night, alone, and suddenly realizes what was missing.  
His best friend.

“Fitz! You’re back so early! What happened?” her voice is somehow both soothing and scolding at the same time.  
“I dunno Jemma. I guess I just missed….astrophysics too much.”  
“Oh, Fitz. You do love your astrophysics.”  
“Yeah, I really do,” he is emphatic, “And Lee just wasn’t like, enough of an astrophysicist, you know? And, her eyes were the wrong shade of brown and she was talking geometry when all I could think of was differential calculus!”   
“You can’t have everything, I suppose.”  
But Fitz thinks, Why not?  
Why not?

 

Simmons learns the same lesson within a few weeks, when she decides that she and Isaac are missing that special spark. She know that “the spark” is just an increase in neural firing due to the release of protective-instinct inducing hormones, but that doesn’t make it any less real. And it doesn’t mean that she wants it any less. Isaac is wonderful, and all her friends like him, but there’s just something about him…maybe if he were a little shorter. Or a brunette. Maybe if he were really passionate about something, for example, monkeys….whatever it is, Jemma decides they would be better as friends and to her surprise, Isaac agrees. The Englishwoman is pleased by how amicable the breakup is, and takes Fitz out for kebabs to celebrate. Funny, she has a better time going out with Fitz as a friend than she did with Isaac as a boyfriend…well, she supposes, you can’t have everything.  
For being such smart people, the pair of them are exceptionally blind.


	4. Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a couple of notes for this one. 1) This chapter felt fiddly to me, so if you notice anything that's off, please leave a note in the comments! I really want to know where I was stepping wrong.
> 
> 2) An earlier version of this chapter had some embarrassingly inaccurate statements about Jemma's hometown, which I have since fixed thanks to the good advice of starbrightnights. Sheffield is the place from which Elizabeth Henstridge comes, which is why I chose it for Simmons….but then I proceeded to bastardize my descriptions of it with the place that my own family comes from originally, which is indeed teeny-weeny. I'm super sorry for the inaccuracy!  
> ~~~

Simmons begins to look forward to her trip home for Christmas. She loves the weather in America, but she could really use a Hobnob and a good cup of tea!  
They make arrangements for Fitz to take a train from Glasgow the day after New Year’s. That way, he can spend the majority of the holiday with his mother and sisters while she entertains her mother, father, aunts, uncles, grandparents, third cousins, and other extended family at their home in Sheffield.

Now that they’re on break, however, Simmons wishes they had planned for him to come earlier. By the time the day arrives she’s “squirmier than a weasel in a shoebox” (her mother’s words); During the drive into the train station she sits primly in the passenger seat, faking disinterest and trying to act casual. Judging from the way her father glances over at her every few minutes, however, her nervous energy is still leaking through.  
Finally, they’re there. They find their way to where Fitz’s train is supposed to be getting in and settle down to wait, the scientist thinking about what the DNA of silicon-based life forms would be like to keep herself calm. It’s one of her favorite thought experiments, and it works so well that she sees Fitz only a second before her father is murmuring, “Nerdy-looking kid on our 11 o’clock…that him?” Simmons flings herself to her feet and sees the exact moment when Fitz catches sight of her- he makes a few awkward walk-run steps before dropping his duffle bag and just running towards them. He scoops her up in an enormous hug, almost lifting Simmons off her feet completely.  
“Fitz! Put me down!” the biologist squeals in an embarrassingly high pitch, but allows Fitz to squeeze her tightly for a few more seconds.  
“Bloody hell, Jemma, I missed you so much,” he murmurs into her shoulder. She wants to say that she felt the same, that their separation was like the loss of a limb for her- but her dad is standing right there, so she just hugs her friend back, whispering, “I missed you too.” They pull apart and Fitz sheepishly retrieves his bag before returning.  
“Dad, this is Leo Fitz. Fitz, my father.”  
“Lovely to meet you, Leo,” her father slips her a wink, “I understand you’re also studying to work for this American organization that has our Jemma all in a tizzy?” They make their way back to the car, making small talk. Fitz puts up admirably with all the questions her father has, Simmons thinks. She just hopes that his cheery disposition will hold up under the questioning of hundreds of Simmons relatives.

 

Sheffield is positively overrun with Simmonses. Fitz had no clue Jemma had this much family, but apparently she does and they’ve all come for Christmas and New Years. From the minute he leaves the car he is assaulted by gray-haired aunties and at least four teeny children who sound just like Jemma. They attempt to communicate with him in their high-pitched accents, but he can’t understand a word. Then, out of the chaos that apparently is the Simmons family, a smiling woman with eyes that sparkle just like Jemma’s is walking towards him.  
“Hello,” she says when she reaches him. She’s positively tiny- she cant be an inch over 5’1. “I’m Jemma’s mother. You must be Leo; it’s so nice to meet you. Please, you must come inside.” Mrs. Simmons shepherds him gently across the gravel driveway and into the house while somehow managing to simultaneously shoo the extraneous family members out of the rose garden and back to the main street. They settle in the tidy kitchen with a cup of tea each while Mr. Simmons explains that, despite the evidence, England is not entirely populated by their family members. Jemma is their only child, but her mother has several siblings who in turn produced large numbers of offspring. The story was the same with her grandmother, resulting in a very broad family tree. They all coalesce in Derbyshire because it’s roughly in the middle of everything. 

Family history isn’t Fitz’s strong suit, and he’s worn after the travel, but thankfully Jemma notices when his eyes start to droop a little and quickly offers an escape, “Fitz, why don’t I show you to your room? We can put your things away.” She grabs his hand and pulls him up the stairs, away from the knowing smirks of her parents. The guest room is small but nice, with lavender walls and a cherry wood dresser beside a perfectly nice bed. It is onto this bed that Fitz now collapses, exhausted.  
“Lord, Jem, you never mentioned you had your own army!” She laughs and, leaving the door open, lies down next to him. His brogue is deeper, rougher for being home, and his best friend tells him so. He rolls onto his side to face her.  
You’re my home, Jemma, he wants to say, but doesn’t. “Yeah, well, I can barely understand a word those wee little cousins of yours say, so it seems fair that nobody should be able to understand me.” They lie there for who knows how long, swapping stories of their families and holiday nightmares and what they’ve been up to until eventually the conversation tapers off and they just lay there, staring at the ceiling in companionable silence. They’ve been apart for too long to recap everything that they missed, but it’s nice just to be sharing the same space again. Fitz has never felt that way before, and it’s an odd concept to him. He values his friends and family for the things they say, the way they think. But with Jemma, he’s comfortable even without conversation. He likes knowing that he could say something at any time and she would probably already be thinking about whatever it is he wants to talk about. He just likes being around her, he supposes.  
The scientist is just about to check whether his friend has fallen asleep when an eight-year-old cousin that Fitz think might be called Emily bursts in, shattering the calm.  
“Auntie Alicia says to get ready ‘cause we’re going out to the pub tonight and you have to bring your Scottish friend- ohmigod, were you guys kissing in here?!”  
Simmons sits bolt upright and throws a cushion at the cousin, who bolts with a squeal. “Em! Get back here! We were not!” She jumps up in pursuit of the younger girl, and the sounds of a great game of chase fill the house as Fitz picks himself off the bed and, laughing, begins to unpack. A flushed, much more disheveled Jemma sticks her head back in through the door a few minutes later, “Sorry about that. Emily’s new favorite movie is ‘(500) Days of Summer’ and every time she walks into a room with two people in it she accuses them of kissing. I’ll be down the hall in my room if you need me!” 

Yeah, Fitz likes it here.


	5. An Upward Trajectory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that it's been so long since my last post! I know that I really fell behind on my usual schedule. And, on top of that, this one's a shorty. But I figured that a little bit was better than waiting even longer for a longer chapter, and I'll be working on getting the next installment up to length.

Fitz turns out to be remarkably good with the under-tens once he figures out how to decode their language of shrieking and American slang. He uses things from around the pub to set off chemical reactions and perform “magic”, making the kids and Jemma’s maternal grandmother sit quietly in awe.   
“That’s a good one you’ve got there, sweet pea,” comments Jemma’s closest aunt, “A real keeper. “  
Simmons tilts her head, confused, “A keeper of what?”  
“Oh, my dear girl,” The aunt just pats her niece’s shoulder and walks away. 

 

The flight back to Sci-Tech is shorter than Fitz remembers, although that might have something to do with the fact that he spent half of the plane ride asleep on Jemma’s shoulder. She claims that she didn’t mind, but he’s embarrassed anyway. Fitz’s dorm is closer to the edge of campus, so they go there first upon their arrival back on campus.   
“Wow, where is everybody?” Jemma asks as they walk, “This place is deserted.”  
“I dunno,” Leo doesn’t really care. He’s exhausted, and just wants to be back in his warm bed, where he can obsess over YouTube videos of monkeys while reviewing his sketches for a pair of shoes with hidden nunchucks in the soles. Going through airport security gave him an idea, and he thinks there’s some potential for a range of styles that he hasn’t yet worked out. He looks up and realizes that they’re at the door.  
“Fitz, give me the key.” He hands it over, “Honestly, it’s absurd. You have a genius-level IQ and you can never get the bloody door open.” Jemma throws her bag to the side and flops onto the neatly made bed. “Ah, home sweet home.”  
“Oy, that’s my bed you know.” Simmons just hums, showing no inclination to budge. Sighing, he begins to shovel his mail off his desk and on to the floor. One of the already opened letters floats down with the rest and lands next to Simmons.   
“Fitz, what’s this?” She picks up the letter and begins to read.  
“What? Oh, just some thing from my advisor. I guess if I pick up some extra classes here and there I could graduate a little early. You probably got one too.”   
“Yeah, I think I might’ve. Fitz, we should consider this. There’s really no reason not to.” He sits on the floor, resting against the side of the desk.  
“You think so?”  
“We could do it, easily. It might even be fun!”   
“I don’t see how cramming in classes is fun. But, if you want to, I don’t mind.”  
“Well, that’s settled then!” She beams. Finally they’ll start learning the higher-level stuff. How exciting!

 

They heap on the classes and Fitz was right- it’s hard work. The older students don’t take well to the two British nerds who are out-pacing everyone, so class becomes rather lonely but for each other. Their younger peers are still willing to hang out with them outside of class, but in those situations FitzSimmons has to make an effort to tone-down their scientific knowledge, and are increasingly explaining things in simplified terms.   
“Ah, well,” Fitz comments one day, “Maybe it’s good practice for when we’re researching things for field agents. We’ll have to know how to explain things so that their wee minds can comprehend.”  
Jemma is silent for a moment, before saying, “Have you ever thought about going into the field, Fitz?”  
“Me? Nah. I belong in a lab, Jem. It’s where I do best. Why? Are you thinking about taking a field assignment?”   
“No no, nothing like that. But, I just thought…maybe we should take our field assessments anyway. To expand our options.”   
Fitz does not like the sound of that. If he didn’t know better, it would sound like Simmons is thinking about leaving him for some exotic assignment involving guns and baddies. He doesn’t want anything to do with guns and baddies. But, it would be better to be in the field that it would be to lose the drive and the clarity that he’s experienced while working with Simmons. He can’t go back to working on his own, he just can’t.   
So he agrees to take the field test, and braces himself for disaster.


	6. Of Mayhem and Melinda May

The field test is a series of increasingly complex tasks that take place- as the name would suggest- in the field. Or, at least, a simulated version of it. They include tests of agility, marksmanship, espionage, and even resisting pressure while under interrogation. It’s all very daunting, and Simmons begins to regret that she made the suggestion in the first place. She’s perfectly happy staying in a lab with Fitz somewhere, she doesn’t need the sense of grandeur and romanticism that comes with a field assignment. It’s just that labs can get awfully insular and as much as she adores her lab partner, she could use a few more friends, preferably of the female variety. She’s never going to be able to have that relationship with other scientists, due to the competitive nature of her field. And she certainly can’t talk science with those acquaintances that aren’t scientists. So, the only logical solution is to find another point of conversation, and in a fit of insanity she seems to have suggested that she and Fitz take up fieldwork in order to develop something to talk about with other people.   
Simmons idly wonders if she’s certifiably insane.   
They both know how to aim and shoot a gun, of course. It’s common sense that even the scientists in S.H.I.E.L.D should be able to defend themselves and their work, and she has no qualms about gaining more knowledge of weaponry. She likes to be useful, after all, and designing weapons is a lot easier when one has first-hand knowledge of what’s desirable in one. But scaling a fifteen-foot wall? Holding one’s breath underwater for extended periods of time? Resisting torture as an interrogation technique?! She and Fitz were not meant for this kind of work.   
But, of course, she can’t back out now, especially not when she was the one to suggest field training to begin with. 

 

She’s packing up her things after a class entitled, “The Science of Strategic Espionage Devices” (the students prefer to call it “How to Wiretap Everything”) which Simmons can’t help but notice is not based on any scientific principles at all when a brown-haired girl approaches her.   
“Hey,” she says, smiling, “I’m Emily.”  
“Jemma Simmons,” Jemma shakes the offered hand.   
“You heard about the audit, Jemma Simmons?”  
“No, why? What’s going on?”  
“Rumor has it that the Cavalry is hanging around somewhere. Nobody’s actually seen her, of course, but do you really think she would be spotted if she didn’t want to be?”  
“What’s she doing at the Academy?” her interest is peaked by the presence of such a highly trained operative at a simple training school.   
“No one knows. But if you ask me, she’s here with a secret mission. I bet you anything that there’s a double agent pretending to be a S.H.I.E.L.D recruit, trying to learn our secrets.” The younger woman smiles noncommittally and wanders off. Simmons doubts that a double agent could really clear the gates of the Academy (although stranger things had happened). No, if the Cavalry really was visiting, there had to be another reason.   
When she tells Fitz the news, it turns out that he’s heard the rumor as well- except, he’d been told that she was there because the students were being used as experimental test subjects for a new drug and the Cavalry was standing by in case any of them turned violent.   
They had a good laugh at that one.

 

True to character, neither Fitz nor Simmons ever actually saw the infamous woman. But the rumors didn’t die down; if anything, they got nuttier. Gossip was flying. People said that the Asian operative wasn’t actually as skilled as she was purported to be, and had been sent back to the Academy for re-training. Others claimed that she was engaged in a torrid love affair with Agent Weaver. Still more suggested that she was there to oversee the construction of a new silo for missile development, though why they would choose the Academy of all places to build such a thing, Simmons didn’t know. The rumors reached their peak when, on an overcast Sunday night, one of the lab technicians claimed to have spotted her rising through the fog like a werewolf.   
This explanation was clearly the most ridiculous of all, but the tech swore up and down that he saw her, and stuck to his story despite growing ridicule. Simmons dismissed the idea like everyone else, but was struck by a new thought….if the student really had seen her, then what was the elusive Agent May doing over by the laboratories? 

 

Fitz’s last name comes first in the alphabet, so his field assessment is scheduled for before Simmons. He’s excruciatingly nervous. The day comes and Simmons waves him off with a cheery smile before heading to the green to do a bit of studying. He watches her go and thinks about how lucky she is to have the extra few days to prepare.   
The first stage of the test is simple: get to the gun, load it, and fire it at the target while avoiding hitting any cardboard cutouts of civilians. Fitz is a little clumsy, dropping things in his anxiety, but he isn’t a half-bad shot, and he gets the villain right in his cardboard face. Good! He was getting fed up with that guy’s smug expression.   
The second half is an obstacle course, which he at least knew was coming. Scaling the net into the “compound” is no problem- he just pretends that he’s a monkey and the Scotsman is up and over the other side. Working around the lasers is a little harder, so Fitz eschews it all together in favor of disabling the alarm mechanism. He’s not certain if that’s cheating or not, but it's the painfully obvious solution and it’s only too easy to do. It’s when he’s strolling through the corridor when the problem arises.   
The whole place is booby-trapped. There are trip-wires and big red clocks everywhere, and the system is well designed. It’s complex, perhaps too complex, because it looks like each trap is connected to all the others. He’s not going to be able to disable them solo this time.   
The engineer takes a deep breath and locates the security panel. It’s a bit of a stretch, but he pops it open and examines the wires bundled within. He pushes the door open a bit wider to get a better look- and hears the distinct click of a trigger being activated. The metal door of the security panel pushed a warning button cleverly disguised as a tile on the wall and activated one of those digital countdowns and wonderful, now he has to do this on a time limit while also doing his best not to get distracted by feeling like James Bond.   
“Bloody hell,” he mutters.   
There are too many wires, some of them have got to be dummies…he yanks a couple of them out of the wall and nothing happens….good, that’s good. There’s thirty seconds on the clock.  
If he takes these two and shoves this blue one into the space left by the yellow one…twenty-five seconds….man, what Fitz would give for a pair of pliers right now…twenty-two seconds….the red ones all connect, so he’ll leave those ones alone, and if he uses a shoe as a buffer then he can Indiana-Jones this one off the bottom since it’s so clearly weight-activated rather than electrical.  
Fifteen seconds. He starts to panic.  
Shocking two of them together shorts out another three. Oh, how he wishes Simmons were here to hold this for him….  
Eight seconds. He can’t do this.  
Seven seconds. Six. He stares at the mess and contemplates his life choices.   
Five seconds. Not many options left.  
Four seconds. Water starts to pour in through a ceiling vent.   
Three seconds. Well, he could….  
Two seconds. That’s a crazy idea, but…  
One second. Fitz goes for it. He shoves his whole hand into the panel, grabs a handful of wires, and tugs.  
The water filling the room stops.   
Did he pass? Ohmigod- Fitz thinks he might have actually passed! He passed, he passed, he-  
A door at the other end of a room opens and a severe looking woman in a power suit comes out. She’s holding a clipboard.   
“I didn’t pass, did I?”  
“I’m afraid not, Mr. Fitz. In the actual scenario off which this simulation was built, a move such as the one you just pulled would have led to a lethal electric shock. The Academy, however, has a strict policy against killing any of its own students, due to their own stupidity or no, so the simulation simply ended. If I could ask you to come with me, please.” She gestures out the door. Fitz takes one more look at the devilish control panel, and then follows her out, feeling dejected. Whatever will Simmons think? 

It turns out that Simmons isn’t too disappointed after all. She smiles at him consolingly, saying, “There there Fitz” and goes on to fail her own test a week later. She too makes it past the firing range, but is “captured” by “militants” when she fails to tread quietly enough on her way into the compound. She rails at herself for a full three days before declaring, “Well, I guess that’s why they train Opps cadets for this sort of thing. So that you and I won’t have to do it, eh, Fitz?”   
He couldn’t agree more.

 

Somewhere, not too far away, Agent Melinda May watches the footage of their tests and swears softly to herself. Everything else had been perfect…she stares at the wall of her office for a few minutes before throwing up her hands.  
“What the hell.”  
And Agent Melinda May makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has just about reached its conclusion, I'm afraid. I'm thinking that one, maybe two more chapters are on the books, but I'd like to keep the story in-canon and there's only so much further we can go before I end up where the show began. But, hopefully these last few chapters will be satisfying :)


	7. Letters and Good Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, you guys, I am so sorry that this is coming after such a long break. I was traveling, and thought I'd have more access to the internet than I did- I did not mean to leave you hanging for so long. This chapter is short, because I didn't want to leave it any longer than I already have, but I'll be posting another soon (hopefully within the next day) to make up for it. Please forgive me :(

“So you’re telling me that there is not one, but two genius-level Academy students who are almost ready to graduate, possibly looking for an assignment with a little more action that the typical lab, and I can have them both on my team without having to fight anyone else for them?”   
Director Fury thinks about everything he has already given the not-dead man sitting across the desk. He thinks about the jet, and the shiny new team that he is allowing Coulson to handpick, and thinks for a moment that perhaps he’s giving too much. But then he remembers everything that this operative has given, including his own life and something much worse than death. Even now his free will is being unknowingly sacrificed- Coulson believes that the two scientists under discussion are of his own choosing when, of course, Agent May has already selected and approved them just as she had approved the rest of the team.   
“Yes,” Fury confirms, “That is exactly what I’m telling you. Do you want them or not?”  
Coulson chews on his lip, contemplating it. “Let me see the file again.”  
Fury pushes the manila folder over.  
“And they’re a package deal? I can’t have one without the other? That’s a bit unusual,” says Coulson, flicking through the pages.  
“It’s not exactly to S.H.I.E.L.D protocol, but we’ve found that they work best as a pair. Productivity, compliance, inventiveness…it all increases dramatically in the company of the other. They are, of course, not to know that they are being allowed to remain together- they would have to be approached separately. But it seems very unlikely that they would willingly choose to be separated.”   
Coulson raises an eyebrow, “Are they…” he trails off significantly.   
“Not to my knowledge,” comes the reply, which is a little joke, because Fury knows everything. “They’ve each shown some interest, but there’s no way they’ll act on it; you know how these brainy types can be.”  
“Hmm. I’ll take them.” Coulson snaps the folder shut, “Not because they’re the best, although I do like having the best at my disposal. No, I’m taking them because I think it’s cute. And because I think they could both learn from an assignment like this. The girl, Simmons, she’s a control freak, and a little chaos will do her some good. And that young man Fitz needs to learn some bravery if he’s going to reach his full potential.” He stands up, tucking the chair back to its original position, “I’ll contact them directly.”  
“Hm. You’re one scheming son of a bitch Coulson, you know that? I wish those agents luck.”  
“Eh, I do it because I love them” Coulson throws over his shoulder as he leaves. 

 

“Ohmigod ohmigod, ohmigod, Fitz, look!” Simmons shoves the paper into his face, then shakes it around a couple times for good measure, “It’s a letter! For you!”   
“Yes, I can see it’s a letter, Jemma. Stop moving it around so I can read it,” he snatched the object in question out of the woman’s hands. 

Agent Leopold Fitz, (it read)  
I, Agent Phil Coulson, am pleased to offer you a position as a research scientist on an elite team of highly skilled agents. You come at the high recommendation of Director Fury, and at his behest I have decided to offer you a space on the team, which I myself will be leading. You have shown exceptional talent and knowledge that I feel could be useful to the objectives of our missions. The nature of these missions is, of course, confidential until such a time as you decide to accept this assignment, but I can assure you that you will have a full laboratory at your disposal, as well as occasionally required experimentation in the field. You have four weeks to decide if you wish to take this assignment. If you do, you will begin immediately after graduation.   
My congratulations,  
Agent Coulson. 

Fitz finishes reading and stares blankly at the paper he holds in his hands, a feeling of giddy excitement coming over him. He looks up at Jemma as a wide smile breaks out over his face, “Jem…did you read this?”  
She doesn’t even try to deny it. “Sorry Fitz! I saw the seal and got a little overexcited, I guess.”  
“It’s alright. Where’s yours?”  
Simmons looks down at her feet, shuffles them nervously. “Well, um.”  
“You didn’t get one,” a ball of lead settles somewhere in Fitz’s stomach, quickly squashing his elation. How is this possible? Simmons is just as good a scientist as he, how could this Coulson not want her for his team as well?  
“I’m sure it’ll come in a few days. It just got misplaced is all. I’ll get one too, right, Fitz?” Her eyes are filled with an uneasiness that belies the confidence with which she speaks. Fitz looks down at the life-changing piece of paper clutched in his hands, then back up at his best friend.  
“ ‘Course you will.” But he’s not so sure.  
This could change everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That schemey Coulson. What could he be up to?


	8. In Which Coulson Knows More Than He Lets On

They wait for Simmons’ letter for a week. Every day she rushes to the mail slots to see if anything has come, like a child waiting for Santa Claus…and everyday she plays it cool, acting like nothing is wrong, like the lack of an assignment isn’t burning her up like the acid she lectured about so long ago. Fitz, for his part, is shell-shocked. Jemma insists that he write back to Agent Coulson and accept the offer, but he refuses to do so until he knows that she’ll be accepting it as well. But under his false confidence and all the reassurances he gives to Simmons, Fitz really does have to decide if he wants to take this assignment.  
The idea of leaving for some lab somewhere, far from his family and far from Simmons, is not something that sounds good to Fitz. He does like being offered his own lab, and it’s flattering to have been selected for this “elite group”… but there’s a whole lot that could go wrong with this plan. And they want him to work partially in the field? It’s Simmons who wants that sort of thing, not him.  
Frankly, Fitz isn’t sure if he can do it without her.  
Sure, he can manage the science and the teams and the secrecy. He can even learn to be alone again, as long as he’s allowed to call up Simmons and his mother every so often. But working outside of his precious lab, without Simmons’ courage and confidence to boost him? That terrifies him.  
How is it that this woman who once bored him has become so integral to his life? How can it be that she who once drove him insane with her rule-following and her annoying little habits is the one that brings out the best in him, who makes him adventurous and impassioned and excited just to greet the day? Fitz isn’t so much afraid to lose her- he’s afraid of losing the person that she has made him become.

 

Simmons is certain now that she can’t take an assignment without him. This is a wonderful opportunity for Fitz, and she knows that he’d do so well…but she also thinks that if he says yes and leaves her behind…well, things between them are already uncomfortable and awkward with the elephant in the room that is that damned letter; it’s impossible to imagine what strangers they would become if he left. Simmons was raised to be an independent girl; she can work just fine on her own, and she doesn’t rely on other people to make her happy. In fact, the scientist takes pride in her self-sufficiency. She knows better than anybody that there’s nothing wrong with liking what you like, and she likes working with Fitz. Just because she can work alone doesn’t mean that she should have too.  
She really really hopes that this was all just some big mistake, or else a horrible joke.

 

“Making her wait is kind of a horrible joke, wouldn’t you say AC?”  
“Eh, it’s good for them both. I am simply dangling the prospect of working apart in front of them, so that they will be able to realize how little they truly want that. I have no intention of making them actually take separate assignments.”  
“You don't want to over do it though. You’re playing with fire.”  
Phil looks sideways at the pilot where she’s doing a handstand in the center of the room. Nothing like a lazy day on his brand new bus, cackling over the amazingness of his latest plan. “I’m good at playing with fire. You of all people should know the beauty of a well-orchestrated set-up from behind the scenes, eh, May?”  
The woman kicks her legs down and is right side up and glaring at Coulson in one smooth motion, “What’s that supposed to mean?”  
Coulson only smiles, “Oh, nothing at all.”

 

Coulson does, eventually, send out Simmons’ letter, and the night it comes she and Fitz sit on the floor in his room and consider the future.  
“I just don’t know Jemma. I think it might be too much for our first assignment. It’ll be our first time out there, doing real missions, not just Academy-designed ones. What if something goes wrong? What if it’s dangerous?”  
“Then we’ll fix it. Things are bound to go sideways, Fitz. But part of the fun is having to solve problems on our own merit. Sure it might be harder than the Academy, but we can do it!”   
“I bet that the rest of the team is horrible. With a name like ‘elite’ they’re bound to all be stuffy. And scary.”  
“But we’ll have each other, won’t we? Even if we hate everybody else, we can lock ourselves in the lab and never see them at all.”  
A pause  
“Come on, Fitz, say yes. I know things might get dangerous, I know it will be crazy and difficult and yeah, we might run into problems that we can’t fix. But what if our team is great? What if the science is incredibly interesting? This might be a once in a lifetime chance. We can’t afford not to take it.”  
“…..okay, fine.”  
“Yes? You’re saying yes?”  
“Yes, I’m saying yes. God help me, but if you really think we should do this, then I’m coming with you.”  
“Thank you Fitz! Thank you thank you thank you!!”   
“Alright alright, don’t gush on me. Grab that pen, would you?”

 

Agent Phil Coulson,   
We, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, are pleased to accept your offer….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is it guys! I leave off where the show picks up, and our dynamic duo are off for all the adventures that we know they shall have. Thank you so much for all your comments and support; it means the world to me. I hope you enjoyed the ride :)


End file.
